Original plan fit for Fenimore Landfill closure

In 2011, the Department of Environmental Protection approved Strategic Environmental Partners' Closure Plan to install a final cap on the Fenimore Landfill. The Closure Plan requires malodorous emissions to be addressed with cover soil and use of a DEP-permitted deodorant. Nowhere in the Closure Plan does it require use of "Posi-Shell" (or any other synthetic substitute for cover soil) or stick flares.

There is a reason neither the DEP nor SEP's engineer included flares or Posi-Shell in the Closure Plan: because neither Posi-Shell nor stick flares are known to effectively control landfill gas emissions. This is why, when from January to June 2013 the DEP was ordering SEP to install flares, and when in May 2013 the DEP and Roxbury Township demanded SEP cover the site in Posi-Shell and stick flares, SEP refused.

Instead, upon the advice of its expert, SEP covered the entire site with cover soil, the most proven means of effectively controlling landfill odor emissions. All available evidence suggests that by mid-June, SEP's application of cover soil, although it took too long for most people's liking, had begun to substantially reduce the levels of hydrogen sulfide at the site. Just like the Closure Plan says.

Nevertheless, on June 26, 2013, the DEP declared an emergency and, with Roxbury Township's cooperation and assistance, and under authority from Senator Bucco's much expedited and much celebrated legislation, the DEP and Roxbury seized SEP's property, bulldozed the cover soil off the fill material, doused the site with expensive Posi-Shell, drilled holes in the fill material and installed expensive stick flares which they now admit are worthless. In its rush to grab SEP's property, the DEP deviated from its own Closure Plan and the advice of qualified experts.

According to a recent report, the New Jersey Department of Health has notified Roxbury Township that the current levels of hydrogen sulfide "pose no health or environmental risk." The DEP reiterated this position in its daily update on August 2. One has to wonder why neither the DEP nor the Township (nor the Legislature) asked the Health Department for its opinion before declaring a state of emergency on June 26.

Looking ahead, the DEP has stated its intention to design and install a cover over the Posi-Shell. This is also not part of the Closure Plan. Consistent with New Jersey regulations, the Closure Plan requires a cap of soil and processed dredge material (PDM). This is the tried and true method of capping garbage dumps like Fenimore and is approved by the DEP.

Like the DEP's use of Posi-Shell and stick flares, this deviation from the approved Closure Plan is ill-advised, but it's sure to satisfy those who think landfills can be capped without trucks. The more the DEP tries to do this without trucks and the more the DEP and Roxbury keep trying to stick it to SEP, the further they deviate from the Closure Plan.

If the DEP and Roxbury won't let SEP complete the Closure Plan, they should at least complete it themselves. Bring in soil - an effective means of controlling odors - and reduce the side slopes and cover the whole site with dredge. Like it says in the regulations. And in the Closure Plan.

The plan to cap the landfill was never popular because it involved temporary inconvenience. It was never quick because landfill closures never are. And, given the close proximity of residences to the landfill, it was never going to be without problems.

But it was always smart, it was always soundly engineered and it was always in the long-term best interest of Roxbury Township. The DEP and Roxbury are ignoring the Closure Plan to make a political point and they are doing so at the expense of the public. They're trying to win the battle but not the war.

The town could benefit from the capped landfill, particularly from the revenue to be generated by the solar interconnection. Unfortunately, the political forces that seized the site on June 26don't appear to have anyone's best interest in mind. If they did, they'd get back to the Closure Plan, expedite the soil and dredge and preserve the solar interconnection. That's the long-term solution to the landfill problem.

Matthew Fredericks

Attorney

Strategic Environmental Partners

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Original plan fit for Fenimore Landfill closure

In 2011, the Department of Environmental Protection approved Strategic Environmental Partners' Closure Plan to install a final cap on the Fenimore Landfill.

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